Grave Confessions
by ghostanimal
Summary: Oneshot for Angst Day: A few months after Danny's death, Sam receives a box containing a shocking confession from him


Disclaimer: I wish I owned Danny Phantom! Desiree: -turns me into Butch Hartman- AHHHHHHHHH! CHANGE ME BACK CHANGE ME BACK! -is changed back-

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Summary: A few months after Danny's death, Sam receives a box containing a shocking confession from him.

Rating: T

Inspiration: Happened to me.

Pairings: DannyxSam

Warnings: Hopefully you will cry

Other Notes: Don't be offended, I just want people to get emotional over my (hopefully good) angst story

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The day they got together was the day she discovered that she was pregnant with his baby.

It _killed_ Sam to know that their entire relationship was built on and only lasted due to a drunken party mistake.

She bit her lip, pulling the covers over her more as she snuggled into the blankets. She was reminded of the day that they had gotten married. Danny looked so dashing in his suit, the decorations nice (they weren't Goth, but they were still nice) and the ceremony had been small, but beautiful and private. Since she was nearly eight months pregnant at the time, they didn't have a real honeymoon, but they both were okay with it. It was only two weeks later that they welcomed Jackson "Little Jack" Daniel Fenton into their family, named after his father.

The Goth stared at the window next to her bed. She could see some frost building up on the glass, and the light of the sun was beginning to shine through. Rolling over, she glanced at her alarm-clock. It read it bright green numbers that it was 5:07 in the morning. She hadn't slept a wink yet, and she had class in three hours.

The twenty-one year old shifted in her bed before pushing back the covers. A cold breeze hit her bare legs, causing her to shiver. She thought about pulling the covers back over her body, but she pushed away the though. Bending over the bed, she grabbed a pair of black sweatpants and pulled them over her thin frame as she stood. Her hands felt stiff from the cold, and she moved them to begin to warm them up.

She moved towards the window of her apartment, glancing outside to check the weather. A light white coat covered the world with flickers of color. Her eyes glanced down at the window-sill, catching the attention of a picture on the window sill. She let a smile grace her lips as she picked it up. It was of her, Danny and Tucker. Danny was holding Tucker bridal style in their graduation gowns as Tucker gave Sam, who was rolling her eyes but with a smile, bunny ears.

A pale finger moved across the photo, her heart aching some. The inseparable trio were now far apart from each other. Tucker was in Flordia, Sam in Oregon, and Danny stayed in Amity Park, resting comfortably in his grave.

Her lip quivered, thinking of his tragic fate before setting the photo back on the sill. She rubbed her hands on her shoulders, shivering a bit more as she moved towards the bathroom. It was a small bathroom with a tiny bathtub/shower, but Sam was still able to comfortably sooth her troubles in the tub. She sat on the edge and began to run the water. Her fingers went from a slight numb to heavily welcoming the hot water pouring from the faucet. Once she was satisfied with the temperature, she plugged the tub and moved to the kitchen.

She pulled an apple and some water from her fridge. When the closed the door, she sighed, staring at the picture on the fridge. It was a drawing Little Jack made for her, of her and him playing with Cujo in Amity Park Park. She smiled at his scribbles at the bottom, which he translated for her over the phone as "I love you, from Jack" when she had called to thank him for it. Next to that was a picture of Tucker teaching him how to blow bubbles in his milk at the Nasty Burger. She smiled, remembering how the two came home, covered in milk because Jack blew too hard into the straw and spilled it everywhere.

Sam went into the bathroom to check on her water. It was fine. Turning back towards the kitchen, she stopped to admire the pictures and posters that decorated her apartment. She had several movie and a Danny Phantom posters, but her main pride rested in the pictures on the wall of her friends and family.

There was one of her parents, grandmother and her all standing, Sam in her graduation gown, all of them smiling. Another of her and Danny in their swimsuits at the water park. She had the one of her and Tucker sitting in the Nasty Burger, him in his gym clothing and her in her regular, having milkshakes while they held Sam's metal in between them, celebrating him passing her test. It was Tucker's favorite picture of them. There was the three on their first day of high school and last day of high school. She had a few of Danny's newspaper clippings framed and hanging.

There was her prom picture. Her 'date' was her fellow Goth, Roxxie. They were hugging each other, giving cheerful smiles and another one of them dancing. She had one of Danny teaching Little Jack to walk, another of Tucker showing Little Jack his PDA (but the tot was mainly drooling on the stylus). One of her favorites was of Jack, Danny and Little Jack on his second Halloween dressed in matching Ghost Busters uniforms. There was her holding Little Jack for the first time, his hand reaching for Sam, and she had pressed her lips against the tiny hand to give it a light kiss.

Her eyes rested on the clipping announcing Daniel Fenton's death from a horrible ghost fight, and she held back tears. The one she loved most, a guy so strong, going out in such a painful way, leaving behind a widow and a young child.

Her cell phone began to ring, causing her to frown lightly. Who called this early?

She strolled towards her bed and picked the phone off of the nightstand. The caller ID said FentonWorks, and she accepted the call.

"Hello?" she spoke.

"Aunt Sammy! Mommy said that I can't go ghost hunting with Grandpa!" Little Jack's voice whined on the other end. Sam couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips despite the pain in her heart.

"Jackie, ghost-hunting's too dangerous," she told him. She moved to hold her phone up with her shoulder so that she could cut her apple into smaller pieces.

"But Grandpa said I could," his voice quivered, on the verge of tears.

"When you're old enough, hon," Sam reminded him gently, smiling. "Can you give the phone to Mommy?"

"Will you call me when you get home?" he asked.

"Of course."

She heard her godson run through the house, calling for his mom. A few moments later, another voice replaced his.

"Sam?" the Latina's voice questioned.

"The one and only," she replied dryly. Her grip on the phone tightened.

"I'm sorry Jack called," she apologized. "He doesn't really understand that you're three hours behind."

"It's fine," Sam muttered, glancing into the bathroom. She rushed in and quickly shut off the water. "He's just a kid."

"While I have you," Paulina began. "Mrs. Fenton was going through Danny's things, and she found this box with your name on it, so we're assuming it's your stuff. Do you want me to ship it to you or just give it to your parents?"

"Just ship it to me," Sam replied. She could heard Little Jack's voice in the background.

"Quiet, honey, Mommy's on the phone," Paulina lightly scolded. "Are you coming home for the holidays? Little Jack's missed you a lot."

"Yeah, I'm coming for Christmas," the Goth told her, twirling some of her shoulder-length black hair around her finger.

"You hear that, sweetie? Aunt Sam's coming to see you for Christmas." Sam broke into a smile hearing the boy's excited shriek. "But only if you're good."

"He called to talk to me about ghost-hunting," Sam changed the subject, ignoring Little Jack's background promises that he'd be a very good boy.

"Again?" Paulina sighed. "He's just like the Fentons."

"I guess it's genetic," Sam lightly joked.

"Maybe," the girl murmured. "I need to get going, my class starts in a half hour, when I get home I'll send the box. Again, sorry Jack woke you up."

"It's fine, I was already awake," Sam half-mumbled back, running a hand through her raven-black hair.

"Couldn't sleep?" the woman guessed.

"What makes you say that?" Sam half-snapped.

"Sam, you're not the only one who misses him," came her quiet reply. Sam softened some. "I know you never thought much of me, especially because of the whole thing with the party and Little Jack, but he was still my husband and he was still Little Jack's father. Whether you believe it or not, Sam, I did love him."

"I know," Sam forced out. She coughed to better keep her composure. "It's just...well you know how I felt."

"I know. Now I really need to get going. Hm? One second." A few ruffles later, and Little Jack's voice nearly boomed in her ear. "Bye Aunt Sammy I love you!"

Sam felt a little teary-eyed, picturing what one could call Danny's clone. He looked exactly like him, sharing the unruly hair and the beautiful, charming blue eyes. Same nose, same stubbornness, he looked exactly like Danny did in his baby photos.

"Love you too, kiddo," Sam replied, her voice choking a tad. Little Jack didn't notice, and the phone went dead. She sighed, tossing the phone onto her pillow.

She waltzed into her bathroom, stripping herself and nearly jumping into the tub. Sighing, she allowed herself to sink into the soap, hot water.

It wasn't fair.

Sam had loved Danny since eighth grade. Nearly eight years, four of them spent being too big of a coward, afraid of ruining their friendship, afraid he would reject her, afraid that it was too soon to tell him, too cowardly to just admit to him before his drunken night with Paulina. Afterwards, she knew that she wouldn't have a chance. Once Paulina announced her pregnancy, Danny had his dream girl locked down.

He always harbored a crush on her, and he finally got what he had been telling Tucker and Sam what he wanted. The nerd finally got the popular girl, even though it was through less than ideal circumstances, to marry him. It must have been a dream come true. Even if Danny didn't marry Paulina, she knew that he would feel too obligated to Paulina and little Jack to date or be anything more than friends with her.

But their marriage signaled the end of Sam's chances with him. He had Paulina, his perfect girl, and that made her angry. She knew that Paulina's love mainly came from little Jack. It wasn't fair. Paulina never had to watch Danny go day after day getting hurt for nearly seven years. She never had to keep secret this intense passion she had towards her best friend, a guy she could never have. Loving a guy she was never good enough for, a guy that constantly talked about being with a girl you hated but having to smile and give advice on how to get her.

Sam had to sit through all of the events with a smile and fake joy. Danny approaching her with the questions of how to tell his parents, picking out an engagement ring for one of her worst enemies, being one of his best men at his wedding, holding back painful tears as he vowed to love somebody else until death did them part, sitting and holding his hand while they waited nervously for his child to be born, babysitting and being an aunt to a child she wished was hers. Tucker and her grew closer in this period, the techno-geek doing everything in his power to help the Goth soothe her pain. They both cherished Little Jack and accepted their roles as an aunt and uncle, as his godparents.

She slipped down into the tub more, blowing at the water to make bubbles as she continued to wallow in her self-pity.

Perhaps the worst part of all was that Danny would never know how she felt.

* * *

Sam got the package a few days later.

She grabbed a knife from the kitchen and sliced through the tape before setting the knife back on the counter and taking the box into her bedroom.

Kicking off her boots, she climbed into the bed. She pulled the box close to her, heart beating a bit nervously at what the box could contain before opening the flaps.

One of Danny's shirts covered most of the box's contents, minus an envelope siting on top of it.

She picked up the envelope, glancing at it. It had her name on the front, so she broke she seal and opened it.

_Sam,_

_Today marks about a month before I get married, and Tucker told me today that you loved me. You have since we were freshman apparently. I always had a feeling, but I didn't want to say anything. I don't know when I plan to give this to you, but I plan to give it to you soon._

_I want to admit to you that I love you too. I've loved you since seventh grade. I never felt good enough, and when I got ghost powers, it became more of a "I think you'd be safest if you and I just stayed friends". After some time, I realized how strong you were, I knew that you could take care of yourself, but then that night with Paulina happened._

_I should probably say first that I sincerely thought that she was a sober you. My main judgment was that her hair was short. Remember how she cut her hair shorter because short hair had apparently become a thing?_

_I love Paulina dearly as a friend and the mother of my only child. I lost a lot of my romantic feelings for her around sophomore year of high school. I never wanted to marry her. We talked about it right after she first told me, before we told anybody else. We decided that we don't love each other, and that it was best for little Jack if we remained friends but we both wanted to be involved in our son's life. Her father was not happy with this. He threatened to take full custody away from us. We didn't want to risk it, so we agreed to just get married. We're getting a divorce in a few months._

_Sam, you have no idea how much I wish it was us that made a family. I'm not saying I don't like Little Jack, I love my son, but I really just wish that he was our son._

_Love,_

_Danny_

Sam re-read it until her vision became too blurred. This couldn't be real. It just _couldn't_.

She felt her tears running down her cheeks, which she wiped off with the back of her hand as her other hand held the letter to her chest. A mix of relief and pure, raw hurt was racing through her.

Danny _loved_ her.

And he knew that she loved him.

That idea and knowledge put her at a peace. The guilt of having never told him had been eating away at her, but now she could at least attempt to sleep knowing that at least he knew.

But what did that knowledge change?

Nothing.

Danny said that Tucker told him before he married Paulina. Even if he never married her, they would still have something that Sam would never be able to give Danny. A family. Sam was seventeen when she found out that she would likely never have a child naturally. They would never be able to erase the fact that Danny and Paulina had a family together. They could never change Sam's fertility problem. There was no way to truly make Danny hers and hers alone. He'd always be with Paulina in the sense that he was Little Jack's father. All she'd do is separate a family. Their love would always be doomed.

If Danny were still alive, despite his words, she knew that he would always find a way to make it work with Paulina. She was Little Jack's mother, and that alone would always be a good enough reason for Danny to stay around. Even if Paulina began to cheat on him, he'd probably still stay for Little Jack's sake. That's just the kind of guy Danny was.

She slipped the letter back into the envelope before silently putting it on her nightstand. Sam pulled out the t-shirt and held it close to her. It smelled just like Danny. There were a few more things in the box, but she gently pushed it off to the other side of her bed. Leaning back into the pillows, she took a deep whiff of it. Every time she breathed in his scent, the more her heart broke.

Words couldn't begin to explain how much she missed and loved him.


End file.
